Linking Aadhaar with insurance policies is a must, says IRDA

IRDA has made linking of Aadhaar number with insurance policies mandatory, and has also asked insurers to comply with the statutory norms.

Although no deadline has been given by the insurance regulator indicating by when this process has to be completed, but the language of the circular suggests that the linking has to be done as soon as possible.

Soon after the Supreme Court asking banks not to spread panic via text massages on deadlines for linking bank accounts to one’s Aadhaar number, the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has now made linking of Aadhaar number with insurance policies mandatory, and has also asked insurers to comply with the statutory norms.

An IRDA circular issued on Wednesday says that the Central Government vide gazette notification dated 1st June 2017 notified the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, making Aaadhar and PAN/Form 60 mandatory for availing financial services, including insurance, and also for linking the existing policies with the same. “Linkage of Aadhaar number to insurance policies is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017. These rules have statutory force and, as such, life and general insurers (including standalone health insurers) have to implement them without awaiting further instructions,” the circular states.

Although no deadline has been given by the insurance regulator indicating by when this process has to be completed, but the language of the circular suggests that the linking has to be done as soon as possible. Some insurers also said that this may also delay the payout in some cases where the linking of one’s Aadhaar number with insurance policies can’t be done immediately.

It may be noted that the government has already made Aadhaar mandatory for bank accounts, mobile number as well as various other things. In fact, all bank accounts which are not linked with Aadhaar will become inoperative after 31st December 2017. Aadhaar is now also mandatory for financial transactions of Rs 50,000 and above. Similarly, one has to link one’s Aadhaar number with the mobile number latest by February 6, 2018.

The biometrics-based Aadhaar program is inherently flawed. Biometrics can be easily lifted by external means, there is no need to hack the system. High-resolution cameras can capture your fingerprints and iris information from a distance. Every eye hospital will have iris images of its patients. So another person can CLONE your fingerprints and iris images without your knowledge, and the same can be used for authentication. That is why advanced countries like the US, UK, etc. did not implement such a self-destructive biometrics-based system. If the biometric details of a person are COMPROMISED ONCE, then even a new Aadhaar card will not help the person concerned. This is NOT like blocking an ATM card and taking a new one.

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R

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Nov 9, 2017 at 1:23 pm

UK’s Biometric ID Database was dismantled. Why the United Kingdom's biometrics-linked National Identi-ty Card project to create a centralized register of sensitive information about residents similar to Aadhaar was scrapped in 2010?? The reasons were the massive threat posed to the privacy of people, the possibility of a surveillance state, the dangers of maintaining such a huge centralized repository of personal information and the purposes it could be used for, the dangers of such a centralized database being hacked, and the unreliability of such large-scale biometric verification processes. The Aadhaar program was designed in 2009 by mainly considering the 'Identi-ty Cards Act 2006' of UK, but the UK stopped that project in 2010, whereas India continued with the biometrics-based program. We must think why the United Kingdom abandoned their project and destroyed the data collected. (Google: 'Identi-ty Cards Act 2006' and 'Identi-ty Documents Act 2010' )

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R

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Nov 9, 2017 at 1:23 pm

A centralized and inter-linked biometric database like Aadhaar will lead to profiling and self-censorship, endangering freedom. Personal data gathered under the Aadhaar program is prone to misuse and surveillance. Aadhaar project has created a vulnerability to identi-ty fraud, even identi-ty theft. Easy harvesting of biometrics traits and publicly-available Aadhaar numbers increase the risk of impersonation, especially online and banking fraud. Centralized databases can be hacked. Biometrics can be cloned, copied and reused. Thus, BIOMETRICS CAN BE FAKED. High-resolution cameras can capture your fingerprints and iris information from a distance. Every eye hospital will have iris images of its patients. So another person can clone your fingerprints and iris images without your knowledge, and the same can be used for authentication. If the Aadhaar scheme is NOT STOPPED by the Supreme Court, the biometric features of Indians will soon be cloned, misused, and even traded.

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R

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Nov 9, 2017 at 1:23 pm

The US Social Security Number (SSN) card has NO BIOMETRIC DETAILS, no photograph, no physical description and no birth date. All it does is confirm that a particular number has been issued to a particular name. Instead, a driving license or state ID card is used as an identification for adults. The US government DOES NOT collect the biometric details of its own citizens for the purpose of issuing Social Security Number. The US collects the fingerprints of only those citizens who are involved in any criminal activity (it has nothing to do with SSN), and the citizens of other countries who come to the US.